Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant needs to score 320 more points before officially surpassing the legendary Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan as the third highest scorer in NBA history.

The Lakers are currently off to one of the worst starts in franchise history losing nine of their first 10 games, but Kobe Bryant is still finding ways to score the basketball.

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The 36-year-old guard is currently averaging 27.3 points per game, albeit on more shot attempts than usual. Bryant is averaging over 24 shot attempts per game while shooting just 37 percent from the field. In comparison, Bryant has averaged 19.6 shot attempts and 45 percent from the field over his career.

The more shot attempts has drawn a lot of criticism and are leading analysts including ESPN's Dave McMenamin to speculate that Bryant is simply jacking up inefficient shots in an effort to make sure he passes Jordan in scoring.

"League source suggested to me Kobe is making sure he passes MJ in career points while he's healthy & once he does will settle into team ball," Mcmenamin said via Twitter.

But whether this is true or not doesn't take away Bryant's accomplishment of potentially achieving the huge milestone and setting his mark as the third-highest scorer in NBA history.

Barring another season-ending injury, it's safe to assume that Bryant will indeed surpass Jordan - arguable the greatest basketball player of all time - in total career points sometime this season. If the 15-time All-Star is able to sustain his 27.3 points per game, Bryant will be achieving the milestone in just 12 more games.

Here's the current Top 5 NBA Career Leaders in Total Points:

1.    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 38,387
2.    Karl Malone - 36,929
3.    Michael Jordan - 32,292
4.    Kobe Bryant - 31,973
5.    Wilt Chamberlain - 31,419

TagsNBA Milestone, Michael Jordan, NBA leading scorers, NBA History, most career points